


i'll help you swim

by SyntheticRevenge



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Jon's very sad and touch-starved idk, Past Relationship(s), Recreational Drug Use, Set in early S3, Sort Of, accidental beholding, how do people title fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:26:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23976697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SyntheticRevenge/pseuds/SyntheticRevenge
Summary: The Admiral climbs into Georgie’s lap and starts purring, reaching a paw up towards her face. She bends her neck down just enough that his paw reaches her cheek, and she smiles.It makes Jon want to burst into tears, a little bit, which is a stupid reaction, because he’s sure if he just asked Georgie to hug him, she would.
Relationships: Georgie Barker & Jonathan Sims
Comments: 3
Kudos: 152





	i'll help you swim

**Author's Note:**

> Hello hi I listened to all of TMA in like four days and for some reason my brain spat out Georgie and Jon just...hangin' out in s3. Hope y'all enjoy.

Jon watches the Admiral as he obsessively bites and then cleans his stubby little legs. It’s oddly hypnotic. Comforting, maybe, watching something have such a ferocious self-care ritual.

Or, possibly, depression is slamming Jon like a semi.

He’s spent a lot of time with the Admiral over the last few days at Georgie’s, and he’s become fairly convinced that the Admiral was her way of replacing him. He’s certainly more affectionate and less difficult than Jon ever was.

Georgie comes home to find Jon still staring, the Admiral staring back, the two of them having some sort of wordless heart-to-heart, and she sighs heavily and sits next to Jon on the couch.

“Do you want a book or something? I have books, you know,” Georgie says, and Jon blinks, looks away from the Admiral.

“Um. Well, I--I’m occupying myself fine?” Jon says, and Georgie sighs again.

“How long’ve you been staring at him?”

“I...don’t know,” Jon says, truthfully. “A while.”

“I thought you weren’t in the habit of...gawking at pussy,” Georgie says, barely keeping her laughter in, and it’s Jon’s turn to sigh.

“I hope you’re proud of yourself,” he says, and she snorts.

“Extremely.” The Admiral climbs into Georgie’s lap and starts purring, reaching a paw up towards her face. She bends her neck down just enough that his paw reaches her cheek, and she smiles.

It makes Jon want to burst into tears, a little bit, which is a stupid reaction, because he’s sure if he just asked Georgie to hug him, she would. But he doesn’t  _ deserve _ that, he doesn’t deserve  _ anything _ from her, and she’s done so much for him already. So he doesn’t ask, just sort of hugs himself.

He knows the answer’s only going to hurt him, but he’s always wanted to ask the question. It sort of just falls out of him. “Why did--why did you break up with me?”

He expects her not to answer. To say  _ oh, Jon _ and sigh sadly or something. And at first, when she sighs, that’s what it looks like she’s going to do. But something settles over her, and she starts speaking, slowly, methodically, like she’s giving a statement, like their relationship was some cosmic horror. It makes him a little nauseous.

“You were such a mess, Jon,” she says, sadly. “I really loved you, but...you were so...all over the place. Remember when you stayed up for three days because you were so invested in American cryptid folklore? Your fucking  _ corkboard _ , Jon. All my friends thought you were insane.”

“Was it just because of that?” Jon asks, brushing hair behind his ear, staring intently at his hand to avoid looking even a little bit in Georgie’s direction.

“No,” she says, sounding a little helpless. “You were always...wrong place, wrong time. Like that one time you were with me through that fucking awful acid trip I had and you decided  _ that _ was the perfect time to tell me you loved me. You  _ tried _ , Jon, I know you did, but…” She shrugs, rests her forehead against the Admiral’s.

“But it wasn’t enough.”

“It wasn’t enough, and then it was too much, and then not enough again.” Georgie leans back against the couch and the Admiral mews. “Why are you asking me this  _ now _ ?”

“Because you never gave me a reason, at the time,” Jon says, and he tries not to sound ice cold, but it’s a little difficult. 

“Yeah. I could’ve ended it better. I guess I was just...I don’t know. It was selfish. You were getting...I don’t know, Jon, I just got scared that you were going to collapse completely or--or worse, and I would have to handle it all myself.”

“I’m better now,” Jon says, as firmly as he can, and Georgie half-laughs. “I  _ am _ .”

“Sure, Jon.” She picks up the Admiral and deposits him in Jon’s lap, where he makes a very indignant sound, and immediately climbs back onto her. 

“Well. Thank you for...for helping me. Despite everything,” Jon says, absently rubbing one of his worm scars. 

“I mean, I did say I wanted to be friends, at the time. Friends help each other.”

“Still, this is…” Jon can’t find a word to finish the sentence.  _ Blindingly stupid of you? The sweetest thing anyone’s ever done for me? What you owe me for ripping me in half? _

He’d never say the last one. Doesn’t even feel it. He blames himself for everything. Especially her. He just wishes sometimes that he was the kind of person who could blame other people.

“It’s alright, Jon,” she says, amicably patting his leg, and he tries not to shudder at human contact.

“Could I...um...would it--would I be asking for too much if--I just haven’t been...touched, much, in...well, really, since--” 

_ Since worms burrowed into my body and had to be wrenched out with a corkscrew! But my life’s completely fine, don’t worry about it. _

He doesn’t need to finish the sentence. Georgie sweeps the Admiral onto the floor and hugs him, tightly. He hugs back, smiling into her hair, savoring the feeling of warmth and life in his arms.

“Are you gonna be okay?” Georgie asks into his shirt, and he sighs, squeezing her and then letting go.

The last thing he wants is to stress her out about him again. She deserves better than that. Frankly, she deserves a completely Jon-less existence, but, well, these things happen. 

“Yes,” he says, smiling as convincingly as he can. “Perfectly fine.”

“You sure?”

He thinks about all the different things he could tell her.  _ I’m wanted for a murder I didn’t commit. I got my coworker--friend--erased from living memory and replaced by a monster. There are gods and they are terrifying and cruel and I am bound to them in a way I may never fully understand.  _

“Absolutely,” he says. 

“Wanna get stoned and watch Planet Earth? The Admiral goes nuts for big cats,” Georgie says. “I think they turn him on.”

“You’re, uh--you’re speculating about your cat’s sexual--?”

“Are you, Jonathan Sims, going to tell me that your brain’s never gone a weird place when you’ve been alone long enough?” Georgie asks, crossing her arms.

“Alright, fair enough, I suppose.”

“So. You in?”

“Why not.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading <3


End file.
